-LRB- CNN -RRB- Mullah Mohammed Omar is `` still the leader '' of the Taliban 's self-declared Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan .

That appears to be the primary message of a biography , just published by the Taliban , of the reclusive militant who is credited with founding the group in the early 1990s .

The Taliban 's `` Cultural Commission '' released the 11-page document in several different translations on the movement 's website , ostensibly to commemorate the 19th anniversary of an April 4 , 1996 , meeting in Afghanistan 's Kandahar province when an assembly of Afghans swore allegiance to Omar .

Several Afghan observers say the biography is aimed at dispelling rumors of Omar 's demise .

`` There have been a lot of rumors lately about him . Some people are saying that he is not alive , '' said Sayyed Muhammad Akbar Agha , a former Taliban insider who has written an autobiography about his days with the movement .

`` I think the Taliban thought it was an important time to release his biography to give assurances that he is alive and present , '' Agha told CNN in a telephone interview .

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The biography also appears to be an attempt to remind the world of the Afghan 's jihadi leadership credentials , at a time when ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has declared himself `` caliph '' of the world 's Muslims .

`` The Taliban has a huge leadership problem at a critical political moment , '' said Graeme Smith , a Kabul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group .

`` Another caliph has announced himself to the world , and the Taliban has been silent . And that is getting noticed by militants across South Asia . ''

Omar was famously camera-shy during the Taliban 's six-year rule over most of Afghanistan . To this day , there are only a handful of photographs of the one-eyed leader .

`` He never was actively involved in any of these propaganda campaigns . No publicity . No interviews . He never used the Internet , '' said Rahimullah Yusufzai , a Pakistani journalist and expert on Afghanistan who once interviewed Osama bin Laden .

Omar then all but disappeared after a U.S.-led bombing campaign routed the Taliban from Kabul in 2001 . Washington has offered a $ 10 million reward for his capture .

The Taliban have released written statements purportedly made by the leader-in-hiding . But years without any video or audio recordings of the fugitive have led to growing speculation that Omar may have died .

The biography challenges rumors of Omar 's death by offering a description of his daily work schedule , which begins with prayers , study of the Quran , and then delivering `` orders in a specific way to his Jihadi commanders . ''

The publication also seeks to fill in some of the gaps about the militant 's early years , including the detail that his `` preferred weapon of choice '' was the RPG-7 , a rocket-propelled grenade .

According to the biography , Omar was born in 1960 in a village called Chah-i-Himmat in Afghanistan 's Kandahar province .

His father , a `` well-known and respected erudite and social figure , '' died only five years later , apparently of natural causes .

Omar studied at a religious school , or madrassa , run by his uncle . The rise of the Communist Party in Afghanistan , and the subsequent 1979 Soviet invasion , interrupted the young man 's studies and propelled him into the arms of the armed Afghan opposition known as the mujahedeen .

For the next decade , Omar commanded rebel groups `` against the invading Russians and their internal communist puppets , '' according to the biography . Along the way , he was wounded a number of times and was blinded in his right eye .

In one battle , the biography claims , Omar and a fighter named Mullah Biradar Akhund destroyed four Soviet tanks , even though they were armed with only four RPG rounds .

The Taliban biography makes no mention of the fact that the U.S. , allied with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan , helped arm and bankroll the mujahedeen until the Soviet army withdrew in defeat in 1989 .

Afghan historians have documented the rapid rise of the Taliban in the chaotic years after the communist government in Kabul collapsed in 1992 .

The movement of warriors who identified themselves as religious scholars emerged to bring order to a country being ripped apart by rival mujahedeen warlords who battled one another for power .

The Taliban biography says that Omar and his compatriots `` launched their struggle and fight against corruption and anarchy '' after an initial meeting in Kandahar in June 1994 . Two years later , the Taliban captured Kabul and began imposing its austere interpretation of Islamic law on the rest of the country .

While the document denounces the Taliban 's post-9 / 11 overthrow at the hands of a U.S.-backed coalition of rival Afghan fighters , it makes no mention of the Taliban 's alliance with bin Laden and al Qaeda .

During a decade in exile , the Saudi-born bin Laden continued to release periodic video and audio statements until he was killed by U.S. raid on his hideout in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad in 2011 .

Though Taliban militants have continued to battle the U.S.-backed government across Afghanistan , Omar has not been seen or heard from in years .

The movement claims he continues to oversee a Taliban leadership council , judiciary and nine executive commissions , as well as military commanders who operate in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan .

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CNN 's Masoud Popalzai contributed to this report from Kabul , Afghanistan .

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Mullah Omar , the reclusive founder of the Afghan Taliban , is still in charge , a new biography claims

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An ex-Taliban insider says there have been rumors that the one-eyed militant is dead